Aim for the Brain

After about a week of searching, Daryl had not been able to recover Merle from the thick Georgian forest. If that girl hadn’t known about Merle’s hand, he wouldn’t have believed it was even him. But it was almost like he had vanished, or turned and ran the other way.

The group had become distant from one another since the incident at the barn. It seemed that some supported Shane, and others didn’t. And everyone was still shocked from finding Sophia. After the graves had been dug Shane had opted to move away from the farm, but when no one followed him, he stayed anyway.

Daryl took advantage of the silence to search for Merle, but he was frustrated now that he was coming back empty handed.

He rode back into the clearing around dusk, the sun setting left a soft pink color in the sky while he rode back to the stables to tether the horse he’s borrowed. He past the girl, Francis she said her name was. She was on the porch steps with Patricia. She was glued to the banister like she was a nail in one of the boards. Whenever they brought her outside she wouldn’t last long before she’d have a break down and they’d have to take her back inside.

That added to the turmoil of the group. Francis put people on edge on account of her not being right in the head and all.

Daryl hadn’t spoken to her that day since she’d finally told him about Merle. It was important for him to look for his brother before it was too late, but it seemed he had missed his mark, again.

He walked over to Patricia and Francis, sweat glistening in the pink light, greasy hair from the heat, crossbow slung lazily over his shoulder. He nodded to Patricia who was watching over the girl carefully. Daryl looked and didn’t think he saw anything recognizable in her eyes. He waited for a while, to see if she reacted, but she didn’t. Not until he started to walk away.

“Find him yet?” she called out.

Daryl turned around.

“Nah. Got any tips?” he asked.

She shook her head, she looked sick. “I never should’ve let him go alone.” She said. Patricia was shocked that she was actually talking; they hadn’t been able to get her to speak coherently all week. “I owed him too much.” Francis said.

“What do you mean?” Daryl asked.

Frankie teared up, and her hands began to shake. Daryl was uncomfortable when others got emotional, he took a step back.

“Sweetie, what happened to your baby?” Patricia asked in a soothing voice.

“She… died.” Francis said. “She never took a breath.” Daryl felt uncomfortable now. But this psychotic girl was his only tie to Merle. He kneeled onto the bottom step and took her and from the railing to hold.

“That’s rough.” He said. “But I’m glad my brother helped you.”

Frankie began to laugh slightly, “He didn’t want to. You should’ve seen his face.” She said.

“I’m sure I’ve seen that face before.” Daryl said. “We were close after all.”

“He told me all about the rooftop in Atlanta, the Officer, the ‘nigger’ that dropped the key, but he never mentioned a baby brother.”

Daryl felt hurt every time she said that. Daryl had failed his brother, and worst of all Merle knew it.

“Did he say anything that would help me find him?” Daryl asked.

She shook her head and began to breath heavy.

“Get her inside.” Patricia said, “Come on!”

The sun had just gone down dropping the temperature a few degrees; he picked up the girl and carried her inside. She still had stitches in her feet so she had to be carried to the porch and dinner. But she didn’t last long outside, it seemed large spaces freaked her out – and she somehow clung to Merle like he as some sort of savior. It made the others scoff at her sanity that she could accept Merle as someone she got along with, that she needed in some way.

Daryl set her atop the quilted blanket in the bedroom she had stayed in since she’d gotten here. Patricia got her to swallow a relaxant, Daryl could only watch as she babbled nothing but insanity.

He left the house, frustrated that this girl was some sort of puzzle he wasn’t smart enough to get, he cursed Merle for not walking towards the farm, he wanted to blame himself more than anything. For some reason Daryl was able to take on all sorts of guilt, even if it wasn’t all his.

He was glad that the sun had gone down, the air was cool on his neck. It seemed to help him think, all day in the hot sun left a lot of room for error.

He could still hear her crying from inside the house.
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Daryl peaked inside her room the next morning to see that Francis was fast asleep. He knew he wanted to talk to her to get anything he could about Merle, But he felt like there was something so wrong about waking her up just to interrogate her. He took a seat outside her room; he could see Shane through the screen door.

He had been somewhat on his own since his psychotic episode, shooting at someone completely fine was what really crossed the line for Daryl. He understood the walkers in the barn; it wasn’t exactly safe to sleep next to them, but sick girl – that was another story.

Daryl was half worried that Shane might try to do something stupid again, no one really knew what went on in his head.

After about a half hour Daryl heard her stir. She had tried to stand up, but fallen down once the pain shot up from her feet. Daryl opened the door and immediately helped her up. She clung to him like she was scared.

He set her down on the bed.

“You okay?” he asked.

Her head sort of nodded and twitched at the same time, she looked sad, and tired.

“Look,” he said, “I know it ain’t easy for you n’ all. But I wanna find my brother.”

“I want you to find him too.” She said, “but what you don’t know,”

“What?” he asked.

“He’s changed, I can tell, the brother you talk about, he’s not the same.”

“You mean, a different Merle?” Daryl asked.

“No. Same Merle, No right hand Merle, our Merle, something’s different.” She said. “Would you mind sitting with me for a while?” she asked.

“No but I should get out, go look for him.”

“Just… sit.” She said. “So I can get some real sleep.” She said. “I didn’t fall asleep till the sun came up, but I think, if you stay for a while, I might be able to rest.”

“Why is that?” Daryl asked.

“Because you remind me of him.” She said covering herself back up. She laid her head on her pillow, and once again Daryl felt very awkward. She was the strangest girl he’d ever talked to, but for some reason he helped her. And is he wanted her to help him, it was the least he could do. He took the soft arm chair in the corner and sat down, and for a while he just watched her sleep.